Jeonju

Craig and I spent the day together last Saturday in Jeonju. We wanted to go on our own adventure, so for $11.60 return for 2 bus tickets, we were on our way. We walked from the bus station to the centre of town (which all our friends have said is crazy). It took about an hour. We stopped off at the market and got some mandu for lunch then on to Gaksa to do some shopping. We finally found some sunglasses that fit Craig's face and at a great price! amazing how people offer you discounts and give you 'service' - even I got a free lense cloth.

We headed down to Hanok Village. On our way, we stopped in at an elderly man's hat shop, some elderly woman's 'everything' shop, and found our first second-hand shop! We stumbled on the gates to the city which is surrounded by a round about and a whole lotta little shops. can't figure out how the one guy sells his bags, hats, fans, his everything, and directly across the sidewalk the other guy is selling the exact same bags, hats, fans, everything. how can you stay open?

Lots to see and do at Hanok village. There was a woman teaching children how to drum, elderly men gathered to play Korean games, a beautiful park with Korean architecture, and plenty of kids! Craig found a tree with no bark - very common here. We still haven't gotten an explination as to why they are naked. The village is not contained to one spot, but within this neighbourhood area. We walked everywhere and stopped in at some more display villages. We stopped at the Hanok Village info building and found out that at the cultural centre that evening they were giving a free concert. All right! we like free. there was traditional Korean farm dancing - they wear hats with spinners and a long streamer to twirl around. it was amazing! then, out came the Japanese drummers! that was really cool! these guys were HUGE having to beat that big drum the whole time. We had a great evening.

Before heading to the cultural centre, we found ourselves walking on this obscure road near the freeway. This was apparently the right road. We got to see some great roof tops of typical Korean houses. We eventually stumbled upon the banks of a river. we're always glad to be around water! Walked up and down the banks for awhile, finally found a little restaurant that looked 'safe' enough to eat at and had some galbi soup. there was a Korean woman who had spent time in Georgia, USA that was speaking with us. It was a bizzare thing to hear a middle-aged Korean woman with an American accent. You don't encounter that everyday!

We will definitely take the 30 minute bus ride back to Jeonju for a get-away soon.